Ep. 134: Manny Piñeiro - The Hard Truth About Time, Identity and What Really Matters

Reflecting on Altus Air Force Base

Martin Foster 0:00

Stuff lined up for you, man. So I appreciate you jumping on my show.

Manny Pineiro 0:03

Man, believe me, brother, I'm I'm honored and I'm humbled with the requests.

Martin Foster 0:06

I've had my podcast for 12 years, uh, but this specific I've been podcasting for 12 years. This uh specific podcast started in January of 2018. So it's it's cool to see like episode five. I had K Wright on when he was SimSAF.

Manny Pineiro 0:20

That's cool.

Martin Foster 0:21

Yeah, like and this, I mean, you know, so and General Jumper was my very first guest, and you know, but none of those all those fail in comparison to uh to you.

Manny Pineiro 0:30

So great start, brother.

Martin Foster 0:33

Uh hey, I want to make sure I get I want to put respect on your last name. Uh so I'm gonna say it. Please tell me if it's if it's correct or not, because I've been practicing and and I've even called some other friends of mine like practicing with them, but Pinero, am I saying that correctly? God, I've been practicing so I don't know, brother. Uh whoever you called, make sure you get let them know. It was Kathy Torres Pummel. Uh yeah. I said it was probably like a month. I said, hey, uh uh and I typically don't tell people when I have a guest come when I book a guest because things happen and people get you know uh cancel and stuff uh all the time, right?

Manny Pineiro 1:06

Kathy is great people though, man. I'm glad that you guys are are like teamies, man, because uh yeah, from my first meet and greet with her, uh man, we could have stayed on we could have stayed talking for for like hours, brother.

Martin Foster 1:18

Yeah, and I'm gonna uh I'm gonna bring her up later in the episode. We'll so uh I'll save uh some of that. But uh Pinheiro, perfect. All right. Yeah, yeah, cool. What's uh did you have any questions before we get started?

Manny Pineiro 1:30

No, man. You know, this is all natural, brother. You know, yeah, this is the way I love uh you know these types of audiences. Every time I because I you can imagine I get my share of uh invites, but but I always they're so different, right? Some people will send me questions ahead in advance so they so they can look cool, you know. Yeah, and uh and you know, I I I work either way, man. Now you know this is something that's a platform that you know I appreciate, I enjoy. So but for me, this is the raw, right? You want raw. Yeah, so I'd rather bring it as I see it and and and you know, let's bleed together. Let's bleed together.

Martin Foster 2:04

And I don't know how familiar you are with my show, but um so actually I just published episode 131 uh just uh today.

Manny Pineiro 2:11

Congrats, brother.

Martin Foster 2:12

I appreciate that. It's been a grind, but it's it's man, I I love it, man. Uh I pour so much into like questions and research and everything. So hopefully that shines through.

Manny Pineiro 2:21

I love it, bro.

Martin Foster 2:21

I love it. Yeah. Uh and I got some fun stuff for you too, man. So and you're from Brooklyn, is that right? No, the Bronx. Uh is it so is the Bronx different than Brooklyn?

Manny Pineiro 2:32

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So five boroughs in New York, uh, all distinctively in their own, they're all distinctive in their own press of Manhattan. Uh where I actually, my mom lives now, so I, you know, I call Chelsea is where I kind of grew up in the in the Manhattan area. But then I'll I always say, I I was raised in the Bronx. Like that was my that was my real fortitude to living. But uh yeah, Brooklyn is is great. You know, I you know I love New York, so I I follow through on all the boroughs, but they all are their own kind of platform. And people people forget, if you're not from the city, you will automatically think, Oh, I've been to New York. Uh no, you Brooklyn is a whole different type of New York.

Martin Foster 3:11

Yeah. And by the way, I'm from Lawton, Oklahoma. I know your first duty assignment was Altus Air Force. Yes.

Manny Pineiro 3:17

You're from Lawton. That's you. So I'll give you something that just took place. And please, I don't want to cut your time in. No, no, no, no. Go ahead, man. I was just uh extended an invitation to Altus to go back. And I couldn't, I couldn't go. I mean, I run it, bro. I've been dying to go back. I couldn't even go back when I was uh in the position in the when I was still really yeah never made it back to Altis, but I got extended an invitation to be their guest speaker at their CCF graduation. So the the the gentleman who uh extended the invitation says, Well, can you do it virtually? I was like, Hell yeah, I could do that virtually. But yeah, man, that base, man, it was amazing. It taught it taught me everything about the military, which which I to this day love. It was small enough to understand it. It was great that uh it gave me a perspective of the missions that were going on around me, you know. Like, you know, I I had no clue, right? The Air Force had its own police, its own fire department, its own, you know. So I learned so much. And that was my that was my stance, my first real impact of yeah, you know, it was really crazy.

Martin Foster 4:21

Now I got some good stuff from there, but when I saw you were at Altus and I was like, oh man.

Manny Pineiro 4:25

Man, man, Lawton is great, man. Lawton used to be our getaway. Like go up to go up to I know it's funny to me because I grew up there, right?

Martin Foster 4:33

So and I I went to Altus a couple times just because uh so I played sports in high school, so we uh we'd always compete. Bulldogs. Yeah, we'd compete against Altus in some uh some sports. I said wrestled in high school, so we always wrestled against uh Altus and everything. And and then uh so it's funny for you know Altus was to get Lawton was a getaway for a lot of the smaller towns, our getaway from Lawton. We used to go to what Wichita Falls uh Shepherd as like our getaway, you know, which is 45 minutes for I actually had my uh my I had my dental and Wichita Falls.

Manny Pineiro 5:03

I I had my freaking wisdom teeth pulled that food.

Martin Foster 5:07

Yeah, bad memories.

Manny Pineiro 5:09

But that'll tell you how small the town was. People don't understand how small Altus really is, you know.

Martin Foster 5:14

Yeah, like I used to think Lawton was small, then I'm like, oh my goodness. Oh yeah, uh Lawton's grown quite a bit. Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.

Manny Pineiro 5:21

Well, Fort Sill, you know, I mean you got there's so much going on there. So I gotta ask you, man, Fort Sill being your Lawton community, Air Force?

Martin Foster 5:30

My dad was in the army, uh, my dad and stepdad. Nice. Uh yeah, and uh, so just a quick backstory. My dad was stationed in Germany, met my mom. He was stationed there for many years. I forget which he was at Augsburg, uh, Germany.

Manny Pineiro 5:44

Nice.

Martin Foster 5:45

Uh, you know, got married uh to my mom. My sister was born in 1975. She lived there until she was six, and then 1981, my dad got because he was filled with artillery, so he got an assignment to uh Ford Sill.

Manny Pineiro 5:56

Yeah, that's the base.

Martin Foster 5:57

And that just happened to be when my mom my mom was pregnant with me, and I was born in November of 81, and then uh my dad ended up separating from the military, I think, like in when I was probably four or five, maybe something like that. Yeah. And that's just where we planted roots, and then and then my my parents got divorced when I was very young, and then uh my mom remarried uh to another army guy uh when I was uh 10. But yeah, so both my dad and my stepdad were uh at Fort Sill. That's cool. Yeah, so but none of my family is from like outside of my immediate family, is like lived is from Lot. Like it's uh like all my dad's family is from Virginia, and then my mom's German.

Manny Pineiro 6:33

So I never Did you ever acquired the language? Did you speak German at all?

Martin Foster 6:37

A little bit. My sister's fluent, and she actually had uh was a dual citizen for for many years. And yeah, my mom didn't work on it with me. There's a uh six-year age gap between my sister and I. So my I yeah, my mom just didn't work with me as much, which is crazy because my mom spoke five languages because growing up in Europe, you know, you learn obviously German.

Manny Pineiro 6:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Martin Foster 6:55

And you learn uh the Queen's English is what she learned. Uh and then uh she learned Italian, French, um, and there was one other language, but um, but yeah, and I I I wish I'd have taken um and I've learned some stuff now, but um I yeah, I wish I would have my mom would have like worked with me on that because that was it's it's just a good skill to have.

Manny Pineiro 7:16

And uh believe me, brother. Look, I haven't traveled international with my children, we were in the same place. I I look back, I mean we were stationed in Okinawa. My kids were learning, they were young enough to learn it, and then it then it just left.

Martin Foster 7:28

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 7:29

You know, you just grab what you can when you can.

Martin Foster 7:32

Last summer, so I retired last year. Um that too, bro. Thanks. I appreciate it's such as a matter of fact, my ceremony was on May 8th of last year.

Manny Pineiro 7:40

So I just celebrated it.

Martin Foster 7:43

Yeah, so it's kind of it's crazy, right? Uh last summer I took my I took my family to Europe for two weeks, and I I didn't want to do it, so I don't share my rank often, but so like I was a chief, right? And you like I, you know, you had way higher scope than I did, but you know, I never felt like anytime I took more than five days of leave, I felt like I couldn't f I couldn't appreciate the time, right? So when I took that uh two weeks in Europe with my family, I was present the entire two weeks, like not checking emails, not thinking about meetings or awards or maining or anything like that, right? And we did pairs for yeah, pairs for five days, uh, went to Austria, and then we spent uh like four or five days in Germany and went to different cities in Germany, just hung out, you know. I love it, bro.

Manny Pineiro 8:28

I love it. Well, brother, that's exactly why, you know, I'm happy that you you tuned into at least what I'm trying to instill in a lot of folks, because it does, it it takes a toll, and you don't realize that you're losing so much of your life, you know?

Martin Foster 8:42

Many, I gotta tell you this too, because uh my dad died when I was when I was 11 years old. Oh, bro. And I'm getting goosebumps right now. He was 51 years old. I'm 44 right now, and I think and last year I was 40 well during my ceremony, I was I was 43, but I I remember just saying, if if I knew, if any of us knew we had eight years left to live, oh bro, you'd say, like, you know what, I'm gonna stop working, I'm gonna go write that book, I'm gonna go uh, you know, travel, I wanna go on that big fishing, whatever, right? I want to go and I thought, man, um, and I'd hit 23 years. Um, and I'm like, you know, 23 years is respectable, man.

Manny Pineiro 9:22

And yeah, four years.

Martin Foster 9:24

Yeah, yeah. You know, so I was like, you know, what's the goal here? And uh um, and I didn't get pushed for command chief at that time. And I was like, you know, like not that I was like gunning for it, but I'm like, the jobs being offered to me were all lateral moves. I would there was no growth in those jobs, like that I was being put, and I was like, I and I just like you know, 23 years is good. Yeah, and I think about uh some conversations I had with my with my wife and then with my kids. My kids are still young and in the house. I walk my son to the bus stop every day.

Manny Pineiro 9:53

That's what I'm talking about.

Martin Foster 9:55

You know, uh my daughter, you know, she comes home, like she's 14, so of course she loves talking when she comes home from school. Not really, she hates it when we ask her questions, but I ask her how was school every single day, like I you know it now, and just things like that.

Manny Pineiro 10:06

That but that matters, man. It does.

Martin Foster 10:09

It makes it makes time count, right? So I feel like that's when I'm doing more intentional. Not that I didn't do that stuff before wearing the uniform, but it's different when you go TDY for three weeks, you come back and do stuff for three days, and then you got to get hit the you know, the grind. Like it's more I'm able to be more intentional and more consistent with everything.

Manny Pineiro 10:26

And that's really what this is this whole movement is about, man. Intentionality. You know, I I think that we um as a military society, we're mission focused so much that we lose sight of the things that actually brought us to belonging to this this uh community, right? I mean, yeah, really you you already established those values, but now you have a community that is like, oh man, we all could believe in the same kind of goal. But then slowly but surely, man, you're just fading out because we got, like you mentioned, we get wrapped around the promotion, the rank, uh what's next level, and uh, and then we start really losing sight of what we actually have, like right now. And and man, look, a couple years ago, uh, you know, you talked about um, you know, how old you are and and how much you have left, but we just there was a good chief. I I had just spoken with him, uh uh Mike De Torre. I had just spoken with him, and we communicated because his birthday was in March. Um you know, this has been a couple of years now, but and then all of a sudden it was like it he he went cold, and I was like, man, what's going on? Then I find out he passed away. And I'm like, you know, that those are Joe's those additional, you know, trackers that go, damn, like wow. And that could be us. At any game, anybody so so those things really brought out a a little bit more clarity. Uh, you know, I I say I always say it's the the vi the the the the visine of life, right? You you don't realize how much we lose because we're so blurried with all the other things going

Facing a cancer diagnosis

Manny Pineiro 12:02

on, yeah. And to me, I I I just I realized it even you know throughout my career, I mean, this has been my my mantra, right? I've been saying it, it's it's on my coin, but it's it became such a real world effect because uh you know, bro, you know, and I you know you wouldn't know this, but 23 now, yeah, 2023, I was diagnosed with cancer. And and and it really was like yo, like me, you know what I mean? And and so you go through these these these personal you know rituals of life and you go, wow man, am I prepared for my family? Am I and you don't even realize I spent lifetime telling first sergeants, make sure all your people are good to go, you know what I mean? So now I I had to eat my own medicine and go, boys, am I ready? If is my family prepared if this happens? And it notched up everything about making time count so much to a different level that now when I'm out in corporate or I'm speaking about it, you know, those real world talks bring back a little bit of, you know, I I I get personal with it because, you know, you don't know. You just don't know. If you're out here hustling and and and grinding and not realizing that, you know, and and I don't like to say from a morbid perspective, right? I I I just try to bring a little more reality to humanize it, you know, like, hey man, we we this is real. And we because we don't think about it, doesn't mean it can't happen. You know, so so that's that's uh that's I'm I'm so happy that you took that vacation, bro. And I'm so happy that you had that time with the family. Because those are the priceless things that we we know exist, but we rarely ever do.

Martin Foster 13:42

Is it okay if I keep that part in where you talked about the cancer, or do you want me to cut that out?

Manny Pineiro 13:47

This is your show. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm transition transparent.

Martin Foster 13:52

That's good, because that was some good stuff. And I'll tell you, I'll I should and I'm sorry, but I mean it's go, go, go. I love it, man. Go ahead, man.

Manny Pineiro 13:58

I'll tell you that for uh for years, I mean years. Uh, you know, I had surgery, uh, you know, I'm still being diagnosed every you know three, four months, right? Blood work and all that. But after I was so not ready to talk about it because the last thing I wanted was, oh, poor Manny. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 14:17

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 14:18

We never we never want that type of a of relationship with people that they now see you in a different way. So they and you know, and this stems from our military time, right? Any any illness, any sickness is a lack of of leadership, and it it sets you almost looking like you're weak. And and for many, many years I held the information. Uh, and look, I'll tell you that even when I had it, I was die when I was diagnosed, my mom, it took me so long just to share with my family. Uh, my wife is in healthcare, brother, and and and I even held it from her for uh like a couple of weeks, you know, and it was like, man, how do I tell these people that I'm because you know you you're you're the rock, you're the format of the family, you're the you know, you're stronghold, you you kind of hold all the pieces together. And and yet I was so not ready to expose myself in that way. And now I realize this is life, man. We're all dealing with life.

Martin Foster 15:19

Exactly. Yeah, man, that's so good. Uh, just on a uh much wider note, uh going back to my I did have a great time in Europe. My new blood type is red wine. And uh I love it. And and crepes, right? After five days in Paris, I was like, man, if it's I need everything served to me like a crepe. So uh and then uh another unofficial reason why I retired was I saw all the pictures with Kay Wright golfing and stuff, and I was like, man, you're having a good time. And yeah, I was like, I need to like this this joker, man. Like, I don't know him super well. He's been on my show a couple times, but uh he's a good guy, man.

Manny Pineiro 15:55

We we I just I just saw him. We one of our teammates from uh Team 18 just got married. Oh, cool. And we went to the wedding and we played, you know, we don't see each other a lot. He moved to Texas now, so he's a Texan, and uh so but we still, you know, when we can, we we'll do our best to stay in touch.

Martin Foster 16:11

I love I see that because I I think it's good, it's healthy, especially for men, just to have that uh your group, right? Your that you can go out. Do you know who Edgar Jones is by chance? He uh he's friends with Todd Simmons, but uh he knows Kate Wright through Todd Simmons, but he played linebacker in the NFL for seven years, but he's now a speaker. But uh, but same thing, like he's in his 40s, and uh and he does a lot of talk about just like a lot of his topics now center on self-reflection and the importance of having that can like the community, like your the your group and stuff and how healthy that is for it is it is, and I think sometimes we lose sight of that.

Manny Pineiro 16:48

Um, you know, I mean, you know, Todd and and Kay Ryan, we all are doing our own thing, uh, but we still try and do our best to find time. I mean, we still connected, you know, via you named the the extension, right? Either we're texting each other, yeah, uh, whatever the case may be, but we make we make it a point to, you know, you can't live on that island forever, right? Because it's it's interesting, and and maybe you can attest to this, uh Mart. We try to do our best to look at all the negatives that the military brought to our lives before we think about the positive impacts it really had on who we are. It's like the people that say, and I'll give you an example, man, I'm never going back to the base. Like I'm never going back on a base,

Veterans and identity post-service

Manny Pineiro 17:32

right? But you know, there's so many people that I've spoken with uh who are former military or veterans, and they they thrive to go to a base, man, because they're still they're still hunting down that identity, right? That that crisis of remember going, I remember going through the base and and I'm the chief. Or, you know, and I I spoke to an officer who told me the same thing. I mean, I loved when they I got saluted. Those parts of who you were in the military, you're still trying to figure that part that you're missing. So they love going on base. Then I speak to the other side of the folks to say, man, I I had can't seem to tell you the last time I was on a base because they want to separate themselves from that environment. And I realize it's because it was so difficult to transition. So they don't want to go backwards, right? They're they're like in a good place now, but they they don't realize it's all right. You know, you don't have to be you don't have to, hey chief, you don't, you know, unl unless they see your ID card when you're going through the gate.

Martin Foster 18:26

Yeah. You know, I make sure they see my rent now joking. Damn it, yeah. What was that? I still go back to the base because of the the uh Wright Patterson date in Ohio because of the bowling alley. That bowling alley is pretty solid, man. Uh and shout out to the person who makes the quesadillas at the right uh Patterson bowling alley.

Manny Pineiro 18:45

I was there earlier last year. I you know, actually it was actually this year. I went to Red Pat. Um, I did a speaking engagement there. Uh and it was it was really cool, it was really quick, and but it was it was my I was back on a on a base, right? I was in the community.

Martin Foster 18:58

Yeah, it's a good a lot of history on the base, too. So yeah, that's that's huge.

Manny Pineiro 19:02

You if you don't get lost trying to just get on bass, or the wrong base.

Martin Foster 19:08

Yeah. Uh speaking of history, I'm gonna read a couple quotes and then I put together a bio uh about you and feel free to laugh and go.

Manny Pineiro 19:16

I don't like I said, we're we're here to have some fun, bro.

Martin Foster 19:18

You guys, I'm loving this, man. I'm loving this, Manny. All right. One, two, three. The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln. Second quote for you We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle. Two more quotes for you. Life is love. Pro boxer Danny Garcia's dad. Last and certainly not least, there are moments in life that call you back to your roots, not to dwell, but to remember to realign and to move forward with purpose. My guest in this episode of Passing the Torch is a certified executive coach and professional speaker who is skilled in leadership and character development at all levels of management. He is also on the USL Board of Governors and is the president and founder of Making Time Count LLC, which focuses on making the most of our humanity count every second through human involvement and meaningful change for C-suite executives and their employees. He is an extreme advocate for trans of transitioning military members who seek their highest potential both in and out of uniform while identifying and anticipating common struggles for veterans coming out of active duty. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome son, husband, father, brother, uncle, first sergeant, chief, air force veteran, grandfather, friend, servant, and leader, and the pride of Altus Air Force Base, passing the tours with Manny Pinero starts now. First and foremost, welcome to the show and thank you for joining me.

Manny Pineiro 20:45

Ah, brother, thank you so much. What a great intro, brother. I love it. I love it so much.

Martin Foster 20:50

Um yeah, thank you for that. I spent a lot of time on that. Um before I forget, I want to say congratulations uh for your son from graduating from North Texas recently. How was that?

Manny Pineiro 21:00

Ah, bro, that was amazing, man. He's my youngest, and I'll tell you, I'm, you know, I say I'm happy that he's graduated because it's less on the paycheck, but it really isn't because he decided to stay an extra two years for grad school. So I'm still invested one way or another. But but man, I'll tell you, it was a milestone from uh two two parents, you know, from New York City. You know what I mean? That's uh it's something that I think a lot of folks take for granted when you look back at your life and you go, man, look what we've done, you know?

Martin Foster 21:31

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 21:32

Yeah. It's it was pretty cool. And we were blessed, man. We had so many friends and and family that was able that were able to show up and and provide him that village that you know that he's had as a support. So it was great. But thank you for asking, man. It was it was wonderful.

Martin Foster 21:46

Yeah, it was great. And I also saw that how was his recital um used? Oh my God, man.

Manny Pineiro 21:50

That that was phenomenal, man. The pieces that he played, you know, though those aren't easy. And uh, and this is something that you'd appreciate uh, you know, as a professional. Professional. He played a piece from one of his professors and and she was there. Like Yeah, man. And that that's you know, you gotta have even one of his colleagues, uh, one of his peer uh orchestral uh members. I just I was speaking with him on the side, and he's like, man, that takes some cojones. You know, like that that's real, that's real hardcore. If you really risk that, but man, he he turned it out. So the recital was money. It was uh it was just you you see, you know, you felt the pride that he that that that that his his coming coming into his milestone of of accomplishments, man. It was great. It was real great. Thank you, bro. That that man, you you really did some homework on that piece, man. That was huge.

Martin Foster 22:42

I appreciate that. I really do because it's uh I do a lot of research. I know not everyone likes to do a lot of research, but for me, it's my way of honoring the person. Oh, yeah, and everything, right? And it also I think it leads to organic and just really good conversation. Without that, I've been following your content. So I'd say, you know, I the past two years, because I made the decision basically to retire about two years ago, and the last year that I was in, I started following a couple people on LinkedIn. Shout out to Scott Stalker. Uh, you know, he has his content, uh, it's it's decent. It's good, Scott. Your content's great, man.

Manny Pineiro 23:18

Well, you know what I love about Scott is that he's actually pushing information out that's that's like current, right? For a lot of folks. VA stuff, uh, you know, transition, um, you know, he's really he's aligning what he's sharing with what he's going through. And I think that's that's that's a that's a real, you know, that's real talk. I honest spot talk. But yeah, he's great, great friend, uh, great brother, uh, and and we we stay connected online too.

Martin Foster 23:48

That's awesome. Yeah, so his in addition to his content, I've been following yours. And with regards to your son, and this you wrote you were talking there was a lot of things you were talking about, his uh uh about the recital muse, and something that really stuck with me is that you wrote that your son has become a muse to you.

Manny Pineiro 24:04

Oh, yeah.

Martin Foster 24:05

When did you realize your kids weren't watching you but actually shaping who you are?

Manny Pineiro 24:11

Oh man, what a powerful question. Um, you know, it's funny, through the military, we seem to always feel like we're we're the leader of the pack, right? And at home, more so, right? You know, watch me, these are my values and characters. And we always say our children base their livelihoods based on what they see. Um, you know, I mean, truthfully, sometimes it's kind of funny when you think about it. But in the military, we seem to always find other people outside of our own circle to try to emulate. Um, and we'll say things like, Man, that guy, his uniform is always on point. Or, you know, man, that guy always has a great attitude. I wanna, I wonder what he's doing. So we we seem to always fade away from what we are at home and we look

Learning from my children

Manny Pineiro 24:58

at outside of the outside the box. Um my children have been giving me lessons every day uh on how to be a father, how to uh how to be a better husband, right? You know, the if you're if I'm having a a conversation or turns into a slight argument with my wife, I look back at my kids and I'm like, man, this is not the this is not a good example, right? But they they it seems like you're almost in a in a constant mirror with your children because they're so they're still growing, they're still so innocent. And and sometimes our reactions are, you know, when we take them to the 10th level, right? When with the littlest things in the world where they're so concentrated on nothing, right? Yeah I remember watching my kids play and I'm like, damn, that must be nice. You know, I'm I'm stressing my life out here. And but you realize that your role is to uh make it a little better for them so that they can have it a little better for their future. And and and if they decide, two of my two of my young men now have children. They have families, right? My youngest is the youngest, but he's gonna be 22, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, you know, you think about that and you go, man, wow.

The impact of a music MUSE

Manny Pineiro 26:10

But yeah, so the muse factor was huge, man. You know, and he he labeled his his arrangement for that day was muse. And I just I I I just thrived off of that because, you know, in all essence, he used the music, and and then, you know, and I'll share this personal piece, but at the actual recital, you know, he gave me love, you know, about the muse action in his life. And uh, and to me, that that meant the world, man. You know, I mean, you just try to do what you can to make sure that they have what they need. Uh, but his his values and his character and his because no one knows, I mean, I look at him and I think about what I what I go out and coach or what I what I you know help institutions try to understand is that you have you have to be intentional with your craft, but you gotta you gotta want to do what you love to do. And so watching him get to that point and realizing it, and then having an opportunity to sit to sit back and and reflect on it, man, that was such a mature, you know, uh move that it just it left me left me, you know, just like wow, wow, this is my son, you know? And uh and it's nothing, there's no proud or feeling than that, man.

Martin Foster 27:23

Now that's that's so that's uh thanks for sharing that story. Thank you, bro. This is beautiful. Um, you know, you talked about like kids watching us. So April was the month of the military child. So my daughter was on my podcast last month in an episode. And she comes on every April. This is the fourth time she's done my podcast, but I asked her, you know, like, hey, what's one of your favorite quotes? And she was like, Hey, let me pull out my phone. So she pulls out her phone, and on her notes app, she has like a list of quotes that whenever she hears something, she like jots down or whatever. And I was like, What are you doing? She was like, I learned that from watching I did you do that. So I learned that from you. And I was like, oh my God, like you know, um. Um how has fatherhood changed the way you think about time?

Manny Pineiro 28:09

Oh man, I mean, you know, you so you don't mind me sharing this, but you you spoke about your dad earlier.

Martin Foster 28:16

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 28:16

And I lost my dad at a very young age as well, uh, back in 2009. Um, you know, he had vices, right? He smoked, he he he has some contributing factors. But at the end of the day, he still was gone, right? And so um I think about where my children's lives would be if I wasn't around or I wasn't present. And so it helps me actually keep me, you know, motivated positively so that I can, you know, try to do my best to be around, right? As long as possible. And now that they, you know, they they some of my two oldest have children, I want to be available. Like I want to enjoy it. And as I do now, my my middle son, Christian, he lives here in Maryland as well. So he's about 20 minutes away from me. So, you know, if I get a call from him and says, hey, dad, I got a dentist appointment. I'm working from home today. Can you come over and you know, watch Millie? I'm like, I'm there yesterday, you know. Like, I'm taking full advantage of that opportunity, man, because there's uh that's a gift, man, if you have that opportunity to be around your children and then their children as well. I was thrilled, look, my mom went to my son's graduation, and I I actually at the dinner, I actually gave her, you know, her flowers on that because she's been able to, you know, she's 83 and she's been able to be at every one of my children's graduations. And that in itself is like a wow factor, right? How many, how many, how many peop, how many people can actually say that that happens in their lives, right? So, and I know so many that don't have that opportunity. So if we if we are able to even come close to to feeling a little bit of that, I'm taking full advantage. So, yeah, but look, my children have had a huge impact on um me being a father and and uh and then how how they've actually kind of put their their circle around this whole MTC concept. My son actually brought it up in his his little speech to the is that every day this is always about uh what do we do to continue making time count. So to me, those those little things, they they they may not feel like a lot, man, but they matter. They matter.

Martin Foster 30:24

Yeah, would you say that's the biggest lesson, unexpected lesson that you learned with regard to uh fatherhood? And I didn't intend for this to turn into a fatherhood discussion. We'll get to some other stuff, but this kind of just I'm gonna be able to do that. Yeah. But uh yeah, would you say that's the most uh the what's been the biggest unexpected lesson about fatherhood? Fatherhood that your kids have taught you?

Manny Pineiro 30:46

You see yourself and through their eyes, you know, like it's funny because as a father, you just want to you're you're leading the pack, right? Yeah, but as a as a but when you really sit back to to to look at your children and think about where they're at in their lives, and we really do this, but we you know, we don't pat ourselves on the back and say, man, great job. We watch what they do and how they look at life. And I'll tell you for me, it was interesting because there's a lot. My my sons are all on LinkedIn, right? So they they see the content and I don't tell them anything about it. I just push out what whatever's current in my life. Uh it's like my own personal therapy, right? If something that's popping that that really struck my attention, and or I look at something, I go, man, I can't be the only one who sees this. Well, if not, if I am, then let me remind somebody else that this matters. My children will read it and I'll get a call or a text, and it'll be like, hey dad, thanks. You know, I appreciate that. You know, and I'm going, and for me, that's like, man, they got it, you know, they understand it. But uh, but I try to do my best even now to continue to set an example of intention with my, especially my children who have who have children, I want them to understand how important it is to be present and not get caught up in the hustle, right? Because I was part of the hustle for a long time. And I lost, I don't live in the regret mode, right? You hear people say that all the time. I don't regret anything, my life is where it's supposed to be. Yeah, I get that. But when we lose out on real world events because we just weren't there, you know, and I mean mentally, we weren't present, then that's a loss of of a of a moment in time that you're never gonna see, you know? And and and look, this is, I mean, this is real talk. Um, my wife showed me a picture one day as we were, you know, repositioning stuff, right, in the house, right? We say we're gonna get rid of stuff, we just move it into a different place.

Martin Foster 32:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Missing moments with the kids

Manny Pineiro 32:44

But she came across a picture of my Lackland days, and she says, Hey, you remember this? And I'm looking at it, and I'm on like on a drill pad, and and my kids are young, and they're and I'm like, who took this picture? And she goes, one of your one of your MTI colleagues, you know, and I said, uh, I don't even remember this. And she goes, What are you talking about? This happened, and she had all the background behind it. But bro, for me not to remember that, you know, that's like, I was, I know I could have been in the zone, but these are my children, bro. And so that that really struck me, man, to think that there would have that's just one example of so many other opportunities that I probably just let slip by because we were busy. And and and and what a what a great call sign for someone who thinks that they're doing real work. Most of the time we were just probably hanging out at the job, just catching up.

Martin Foster 33:37

Yeah, shooting it, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Manny Pineiro 33:39

So, but but that became more important than anything else at home. And when you get home and then you're too tired to go outside, or too tired to throw the ball, or you know, and and I found that my wife through through many years, man, was was actually advocating for you know for me in a different way, right? It it was like, hey, dad is tired, you know, leave let him be, you know, give him some time. She's she you know, you think she's doing me a favor, really, she's actually applauding the opportunity for me to say and use that as an excuse.

Speaker 2 34:14

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 34:15

So so you know, we talk about that all the time, about you know, where where we were, we both were in our lives during trying to raise his family. And uh, and it was tough, man. You know, it was tough.

Martin Foster 34:27

What did you think about that second quote I I shared, Life is Love by Danny Garcia's uh dad.

Manny Pineiro 34:33

Brother, that I remember when I posted that, man. So I'll tell you that that that that was strong for me because I truly believed in uh in that that was an upset fight, you know. You look at the fight alone, but you think about the power of influence that he had in his dad, who never gave up on him, you know. Oh man, bro, that that really struck me when I saw it and why I wanted to share it is because I truly believe that life is about love, man. You know, I not not to not to get into a carpenter's, you know, flashback of Woodstock, but I'm trying to tell people that when you understand the people that surround you that have always supported you, uh, and you still have that, right? You still are are attached to those people. Man, give them their flowers now, man. Yeah. Martin, brother, you lost your dad, right? And uh at a young age, and how many times have you probably thought about why he never got to see? You know, you getting promoted, you reaching the pinnacle of chief uh in the in the military. Those moments are things like my dad never got to see any of that either. So I'm I'm I you know when you mentioned it to me, I really connected to that because we live to to make our parents prior, proud, you know? Yeah. Literally, that's what it comes down to. We want the best because we want to, that's our that's our own form of grace to say thank you for what you provided. And let me show you how I'm gonna repay that. When we don't have that opportunity, um, it it it hurts. It hurts. And and so when I saw that and I realized, man, through all the things he was going through, his dad has been there through the falls, through the the you know, the bad times. And and think about how strong he had to be to put that out there.

Martin Foster 36:19

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 36:20

He just went to the world. In front of the world, in front of the world. In front of the world, brother, to say, you know, he's been struggling with depression. He's been, but man, my dad, you know, like this is my soap, my support beam, and he's been there. That that that touched me, man. That touched me.

Martin Foster 36:35

100%. I'm a huge boxing fan too.

Manny Pineiro 36:38

No doubt, no doubt. So so those things that that was uh that was important for me to share. And sometimes, look, I push information out there on certain platforms. It how it affects people, cool. I I I just had a conversation, you know, you brought up Todd recently, uh a little while ago, but when I saw him, because he was at the wedding that I kind of had the rebellion at, and we were talking on a sidebar, and uh, you know, he I hadn't seen him in a while. He was telling me he was been off the grid for a while, um, some some you know family stuff going on in his life. And so we really had a bonding moment to talk about. And he's he openly said, you know, Manny, when you started your company, uh, I didn't understand what making time count was. Like, you know, it wasn't the the words, the action behind the coaching piece, right?

Martin Foster 37:27

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 37:27

He was trying to figure it out. He says, for years I didn't understand, he goes, and now I get it. Like, and I you know, that's a compliment, but I I wanted to say, now you get it.

unknown 37:38

Yeah, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 37:41

But think about that, you know, because again, we're so caught up with whatever is going on. And and to me, you know, just the words alone spoke. But to him and his life, until something actually started to attribute to uh, you know, the moments and and real realistically not knowing whether or not he he would have them, um, that became a new way of looking at it, right? And and that that that whole MTC mantra became something different to him. So then when he, I mean, he I was I was humbled with the fact that he said, Man, now I get it. Now I understand it. And I go, I wanted to say it's about damn time, but but yeah, been doing this for quite some time. But I I I fully embraced what he said because a lot of folks don't. Even in now, when I get a call uh from some senior director who's asking, you know, hey, someone referred me and they told me about you. I always I I like to like almost want to get into their their insight about what they think making time count means to them.

Martin Foster 38:43

Absolutely.

Manny Pineiro 38:44

You know, I mean that just just on the initial conversation.

Martin Foster 38:47

There's a psychology to it. So again.

Making time count in life

Manny Pineiro 38:49

And so when they start to hear themselves tell me, it's they embrace it and they go, man, I never really thought about that, you know? And and it's a concept, man, that just it's it's ongoing, bro. We can't negotiate that. So, so when you have an opportunity to really understand it, and then ask yourself, what am I doing to make time count? That's that's one of the reasons I always end everything I post with that. Like I want that to be, it's more than just a branding. I want you to really think about the the storyline, whatever it is that I'm talking about for that particular day. But I really want you to understand how does this apply in my life? You know, how is making time count for this action applying, how am I applying that? I that's why I share a lot of things. When I go on trips, work trips that turn out to be like vacation spots, really. Yeah, you know, uh, I make it a point to to really have some reflection on, man, where's my life at right now? Because I if I'm feeling this good, somebody else may not be feeling this good, right?

Martin Foster 39:50

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 39:50

Uh so I I just try to make sure that people get a better understanding of what the concept of this movement is. It's not just a business brand. This is about really digging into your own identity and seeing some clarity, you know, seeing some real clarity. Um, brother, bro, I I got stories forever, man, that will shape your conversations into like, no way. Uh business owners who left, it's senior executives who are now living purposeful with what they got away from because of the business that they fell into. And and I and I when I get those those stories, I'm like, man, I I gotta, I gotta embrace that because it wasn't me. It was someone, it was them, you know, they really dug deep into their own soul and said, Am I happy?

Martin Foster 40:39

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 40:39

You know, am I happy doing what I'm doing? So for me, those are the big wins. If I if I can maneuver, you know, I I I did some work with a company and the senior director, I ended up coaching them. And I called, I we were on a virtual, and I said, and I asked about this particular individual who asked me, who I, you know, confronted during the conference, uh, and said, what's the best thing in your life that reminds you about how important time is?

Martin Foster 41:05

And when she Manny, that's a great question. That is a fantastic question. Sorry, I had to I want to give you some props for that one. That's an excellent question.

Manny Pineiro 41:13

Bro, but that's real talk. And I think sometimes we don't even understand it until someone applies it and makes you responsible to answer it. So when I gave it to her, you know, she started telling me how she used to love to paint and how she uh doesn't have time for that anymore. But she loved to do it. And I saw I in our conversation, we had a sidebar, and then I found out from the senior director that she quit. She left her job 18 years, and she left. Guess what she's doing now though?

Martin Foster 41:42

I'm guessing painting.

Manny Pineiro 41:43

Bro, she opened up an art gallery.

Martin Foster 41:45

Man, you know, Manny, that's a that's a great question because it uh it exposes the truth. So people can give a canned um you know, framed uh political or your standard answer, but people are gonna see like the people listening to that are gonna see right see right through it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, but but you know, but it also like there's two options. You can give the it's either gonna expose your fake answer or expose like your your truth. There you go. And you you know, get to the core. So no, that's actually I love that question, uh that's that's great.

Manny Pineiro 42:21

100%. And I and and for me, you know, I don't ask a question I'm not ready to answer. You know what I mean? Like I'm not gonna just arbitrarily throw something out there that I'm not prepared to answer. But when you put somebody on the spot, rather than to say, and I always say, take your time, you know, make sure that this is your answer, not the answer that you think I'm poking to get. And so when when they respond and it's truth, like you mentioned, it's honest, it's real talk, then they start to think, man, how long have I been faking it? And that and that to me means more than, you know, just having a uh invitation to, you know, some corporate event uh or leadership workshop. It really exposes where they're at in their life and whether or not they've been giving all they can to this position that they have. Are they in? You know, in the military, I used to tell my first sergeants, this you, you, this is a full-time investment. Like you can't play this game halftime, right? So, so that is another format of letting someone else know in a different arena that you can't cheat yourself by giving half of what you think you should be giving. And if you're not, then maybe that's not where you want to expose 100% of your life. If you're giving 50%, uh and I just I recently wrote about that to some, you know, I put a a mode out there of 50% versus, you know, just showing up to work.

Martin Foster 43:46

I actually have a question about that because uh yeah, sorry, finished your thought, but it was a it's an excellent post.

Manny Pineiro 43:51

But it's it's an interesting concept, right? If you're willing to go to work every day, like think about it. I mean, take a moment, think about it, Mart. You get up in the morning, whatever hustle you got going. On to get to work and you're not even fully invested, then think about the time that you're losing of your life. So if you're not fully invested and you're not engaged at 100% of who you are, then what are you doing there?

Martin Foster 44:19

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 44:19

You know, because now you're just really cheating yourself of the time that you should be having doing something that you love to do. So those things are they they sound rhetorical when I when I ask people and they look at themselves, you know, that's almost like they give me that query look, like, I never thought about that. I go, I don't know. That's what I'm trying to make you think about it.

Martin Foster 44:37

No, it's great. Uh, it's what I'm doing with this podcast. I um I haven't applied for any jobs because I want to go all in on this podcast. And I love it. And it's just it's my passion, right? And trying to um but it takes time. I mean, it takes a lot, a lot of time to do it. Uh you were talked about first sergeant stuff. I got to give a shout out to an amazing first sergeant that I served with the last uh couple years that I was in. He was my right-hand person. That's uh senior master sergeant Richard Good. And something he's he's here at Wright Patterson, and he used to say, he used to tell people, because people would want him to do everything for them. So you know what he and he had this this really stuck with me, and it's one of the best things I've ever heard for for leaders. He says, I will double the effort that you give me. So I'm saying, and because people they'd want him to help them, they didn't want to do any of the work. Wow. And he's like, you know, and that was his whole point. I can't help you. At some point, you have to help yourself, but you got it make time count. But like, I'm gonna um you know, double, and I just that always stuck with me. So shout out to uh Yeah, man.

Manny Pineiro 45:35

Shout out to him too, bro. Thank you.

Martin Foster 45:36

Yeah, Rich Good.

Manny Pineiro 45:37

If he's listening, man, look, uh, thank you. Thank you for putting that chevron on and and going out there and doing all you can to assist our airmen and our and then and their families. You know, I'm I'm biased, right? I spent almost 17 years wearing that diamond. And so I know that it's not an easy, it's not an easy gig. And uh I I always try to make sure and and recognize that. I get so many folks that reach out to me on LinkedIn that are still serving, you know. Uh, and um they used to show a video of me at the schoolhouse even after I retired. And so they they're they're kind of locked into I gotta get in touch with this guy, you know. So when I reach out, I'm always like, first sergeant, you know, hyping them up, man. Make sure they understand the the relevancy of that, of that, of that chevron, you know?

Martin Foster 46:22

Yeah, no, thanks for that. Uh I'll share this clip with him. Um one question I typically we're so deep in this podcast, but I do think I typically start off with the same question. Um, but I uh I feel compelled to ask you now, why is life great right now?

Finding personal motivation

Martin Foster 46:36

Ah, bro, I'm here.

Manny Pineiro 46:38

I'm here, man. You know, when I wake up, people people used to laugh. I used to say this with a uh, you know, some some form of uh almost like it was just a smiling effect of knowing that you know I get up, right? So they used to think, say things like, Man, why do you look so happy all the time? And I go, man, you don't understand, someone else didn't get up today. So, so that was more of uh my own personal motivation and inspiring, man. But but man, in this day and age, under all the constraints and challenges that our our nation is under, um, man, the neighbor across the street, you know I mean, everyone around us is going through something. And and and you gotta just stop and ask yourself, uh, where am I in my life? Like I'm happy, right? Uh I have shelter, you know, how many homeless people we have in this in this nation? I I have hot water, you know, how many people can't pay that bill? I am in a place, and this is just, I'm giving you a resource, you know, uh spectrum. From a personal perspective, uh I'm healthy. And and and that in itself, there's no cure for anything other than grace, you know? Like you have to really embrace the fact that you are healthy enough to enjoy uh a walk, you know, or go outside and take a freaking deep breath of air. My I wrote about my my wife is a respiratory therapist, so breathing is like imminent in her life, right? That's her whole job. But how many of us actually take that for granted and just assume it's gonna be there? When when she spends 12 hours in a hospital trying to help somebody breathe. Yeah. You know, so so bro, uh, there's that's too much to try to outline into a uh uh you know some type of uh solid stick with you line. I'm grateful for life, you know, every day. And uh, and you know, opportunities to to encourage other people to see it through sometimes my own lenses is that's that's actually fun for me because I I know exactly where you were at. You know, I know exactly how you feel. Uh I may not be going through the same grind, just being invested in that conversation gives them an opportunity to know that they're not alone. And I think that's that's part of what we're dealing

Maria Perez's mental health journey

Manny Pineiro 49:02

with. Everybody seems to be locked in their own, you know, their own circle uh and their own cipher, and and and they think that they're the only ones dealing with life. Uh I have a great, great friend. I posted about her, Maria Perez. Maria is doing some great things. She was actually one of my trainees, one of my trainees back in the days. But we stayed in touch throughout through the years. And at any given time, I used to just call her just to check and see how she was doing. And, you know, she had her own bouts with depression and she dealt with a lot of stuff. But even now, to see where she is in her life and the awareness of her mental health, and now she's pushing that message back out to the world, that to me is powerful, man. Because you know, I I don't believe that a lot of us know how much, how many people are looking at you for um guidance, you know, mentorship. And even now, like these conversations, Marn, you don't even realize this. And if you don't, um, and I'm hoping you do, but you exposing all of these opportunities to have conversations with people, uh, and then bring them down to humanity, right? Like a human, real talk conversation, man. That's powerful, bro. That's a gift. That's a gift. So, so man, I encourage you. You found you tell me you find your passion and your purpose. Don't stop, brother. Don't stop, man. This is something that you and and and more so because now you're like you mentioned your daughter, she's watching you do this. And and this is real talk, man. You're having conversations with people about life. And and there's no better way of helping someone through such a hard time because what you're doing is exposing people to say you're not alone.

Martin Foster 50:39

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 50:39

You know, and and and for a veteran community, man, there's so many of us that believe that we're just dealing this and we're we're weak and that we no one understands what we're going through. And when you can say, nah, man, let me tell you, let me tell you about General Jumper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the list goes on, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but it matters. It matters, so thank you.

Martin Foster 51:01

Well, thank you for the kind words. I I really appreciate that. I I pour so much of my heart and soul uh into this. And this right here, someone sent this to me that uh this this wouldn't the passing of the tort sign right here. I love it. Uh someone anonymous, well, uh someone that I know but not super well mailed that to me just out of the blue. And it was on uh so November 1st was my effective retirement date. I did uh my ceremony was on May 8th, but I did skill bridge and terminal and all that stuff. I love it.

Manny Pineiro 51:28

I'm glad we did that too.

Martin Foster 51:29

Yeah, um, but anyway, so uh Halloween was my last actual day on active duty, and there was just a lot of emotions that day for me that I didn't expect. And around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, early evening, uh this package dropped off of my door, and it was it was this, and I was like, wow, man. And huge. Yeah. So again, just uh just thank you for the kind words. Um well deserved, man. Uh I have kind of one more, like a couple more questions, and we'll get into making time count and uh specifically. Yeah, but I got uh I just I I did want to ask you for someone who for someone who feels disconnected from their story, where should they start in reclaiming it?

Manny Pineiro 52:10

Oh man, wow. Identity, I think it's probably the biggest piece of it all, man. You know, I think sometimes we lose, we forget that our identity is something that you you don't identity is something you don't find once, right? Because I think before we joined the military, we had we were whoever we were. And then, you know what I mean? You know, I I know many are bank robbers who join the military.

Martin Foster 52:33

It's like, yeah, we all I think we all have that shared. That's why a lot of people join at 19 or 20. Yeah, you know, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 52:40

Either, you know, hey, you're gonna go to prison or you join the military, you know, service, right? Uh you can't live here anymore. You graduated school, so what's the so we run out of options and we're trying to find that identity, right? But I I truly believe that even then, even after, uh, you know, and I and I speak I'm speaking to a military community uh as much as a uh uh society, but it's something that you continually negotiate. Uh because you're still trying to figure out what it is that you're supposed to do. Uh and you hear that from people who who actually served. You know, uh one of the the clinch lines in anyone who's transitioning is I don't know what I'm gonna do next. So that is a format to trying to figure out that identity piece. Um but you don't, you know, what I I truly believe is that you don't need full clarity to move forward. Um as long as you're moving forward, right? As long as you're doing something other than, you know, hanging out uh, you know, at home, trying to figure out what you're gonna do. You know, I always say I love failure, man. Failure is something for me is that's a powerful tool because at least you did, you you attempted to do something, and if it didn't work out, then cool. What's next? So you're constantly moving forward, and and you just you just gotta know enough of your own honest self to really embrace what it is that you love. If that makes sense to you, you know? Yeah. You have to really understand that not every not everybody's gonna want to do a podcast. Not everybody is gonna, you know, want to coach. I I knew folks who tried to jump into everything. They wanted to, you know, do a podcast, they wanted to try to coach. And and again, this goes back to initially uh when we spoke about folks who look at you and say, I could do that. Because they have a vision of something that they would love to do and they see someone that they admire doing it. Uh, I don't know how many times I must have got, you know, side DMs about, hey man, I want to do what you're doing. And I go, cool. You're like, I'm not gonna downplay that.

Martin Foster 54:40

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 54:40

But this space is very unique because if you don't, if you're not at your honest self, you know, your clients or your your whoever you're coaching, they're gonna see right through that. So if you're not willing to expose a little bit, and then the other part is you gotta just shut up and listen, man. You know, sometimes people don't want you to talk. They just need somebody to hear them. And so that's hard for a lot of people, especially in the military, who have been always thinking that they gotta have a hand in the game, you know. Sometimes you don't need to be that person. Uh, you just need to let somebody just expose what they have going on. And then you encourage them to figure out, let them figure out what it is that they need to do. Uh that that's the that's the real essence in coaching. You know, people think, oh, I could tell people what to do all day. I've been telling them for 20 years, you know. Nah, man. Some people don't need to be told what to do. They this this line of business in this space is really about letting folks understand who they are and then letting them figure that out. Uh that that's the real win, right? That's when they could, you could, there's sometimes in a in a virtual coaching that I do, if I'm not, you know, out and about uh locally, they'll have the whole conversation. And then they go, man, thanks so much. I feel so much better. I'm like, and all I did was like, yeah, so how's that make you feel? You know?

unknown 55:58

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 55:59

Yeah. But but really, man, you just gotta have enough, you just gotta be honest with yourself to take the next step and really understand what it is that you're passionate about, what it is that you do, you know, to to unfold and un you know, un kind of unradle your own identity, man. It really takes take time to learn who you are. And that's the part that I think a lot of us uh who transition into different spaces struggle with. Because for many years, people kept calling you the chief. You know, they they only know and that identity, man, that's a they transplant that in your head. And now it's part of your DNA. So when you're no longer the chief, you know, then all of a sudden you go, damn, I'm less than that. And and and then that's probably the most difficult part of the transition. I I when I retired, I'll I'll share this with you. I spoke with uh Joe Bass. Um, she was sitting in the seat at the time, and I remember telling her that, you know, I went through taps, I don't know, like two or three times, right? Okay. Uh because I was supposed to retire in 17.

Martin Foster 57:02

That's right, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 57:03

Yeah, Khalid called me up and then before you know it, I was back in the seat. Um just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. I was me, godfather all the way, right? But you know, I but I I it wasn't uh I struggled with the decision because I thought I was ready to retire. I just I wasn't I wasn't feeling like I was uh I was at my best. You know what I mean? And even and you know, people will tell you, what are you talking about, right? But I just knew I said, you know, I I had a great, like you mentioned, right? 23 years, I had a good career up to that point. I had a great career. And I go, I I'm good, like I'm ready. But but when he called me to ask me, I had to reach out to my mentors, right? The Jack Johnsons. I I reached out to folks who who nurtured and grew this monster, right? And uh and and ask them, you know, what do you think? Because I didn't want to take the job selfishly. I really wanted to make sure that I can attribute and and and give give the community what I thought they deserved. And not by virtue of me, but by having more of the policy behind it. Because I was on the receiving end for a very long time of things that happened that go, why are we doing that? But now I had an opportunity to go, this is why we're doing it. You know, these are this is exactly why we're making this move. And that to me was a different type of position that gave me the uh more of an authoritative role to have consistency versus ambiguity. And sometimes when we're lost in the shuffle and we're told what to do without explaining the why, uh that that that can get pretty that can get pretty dirty. Um because now it's uh that's the guy that said this and that's the guy. And we're pointing fingers, not realizing that those are easy distractors. Um but but I think that uh, you know, when when you know I mentioned I didn't want to get away from it, but when I got the call and I was gonna retire, uh I realized that, you know, I still had a little bit of fuel left, you know, to to and I and I'll and actually I'll tell you something, Mark. The real part of it was that I I was on the same, I was on the same bridge with the with why. Like I connected to Khalise's uh values on taking care of our airmen. And that to me, that was powerful because I had not heard that from a chief for a long time. Uh, you know, someone sitting in that position. But, you know, not to get away from why I brought it up, when I talked to Joe, I told her, hey, I went through these transitional classes, and there's nothing in here about how do we transition folks back to society. You know, like I get the resume writing, I get the next job, but there's a lot of people who don't want to work anymore. And and how do we just tone it down so that they understand that we have to teach you how to get back into mainstream society? And we we do things in the military now in retro, I look back on life, man. I think about even my retirement, how many people gave me alcohol as a sense of gratitude, right? Bottles of things of of expensive things.

Martin Foster 1:00:11

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:00:11

You know what I'm saying? But bro, think about this. And I and I put this out there uh when I talk about um our veteran transitions, think about the senior leader, or not, maybe the the the tech sergeant who got out and they gave him a complimentary bottle, but he's still trying to figure life out. You know, that I I I was I was that guy, bro. I was sitting in my house after retirement looking at all this alcohol, thinking, eh, who's gonna know if I take a bot uh a glass at 10 o'clock in the morning? You don't realize how how something so innocent can turn something really negative just because it's available. So I so I look at that, right? So I think about that and I go, oh man. So let's think about time and that concept. How can I utilize the time that I have to completely filter uh a positive outlook with what you have left, regardless of what it is. You know, this these are part of the lessons, man. And I think sometimes we don't think about that until you know you hear about the guy who passed away or the guy who crashed a car or whatever the case may be. I'd rather have an opportunity to leave a legacy of positivity, especially if you have an opportunity to embrace what what you have in time. You know, that that for me is important because we've all been there. We've all devalued it because we thought it was always going to be present, it was always gonna be existent. And and so I I'm passionate about it, man. I'm telling you, bro. So I look at this like this is my this is what I was here for. You know, first sergeant, cool. I love it, man. I love that I'm I I was able to reach that level and and be able to expose myself to these families and such. But man, you know, look, I'm gonna read something to you, bro. Do it, go for it, man. You're gonna love this, man, because this this this just ties in and it just hit me when I thought about it. So I received this message. You know, I get LinkedIn connects all the time. So I get this message and I send a response, you know. My apologies always are because I'm traveling so much sometimes. Uh if not for like this last past week with my son and his situation, but work-related. So I get this message and it says, and I and always end it, you know, keep thriving and keep making time count. And I sign it, Manny, right? I get this. I know you signed off as Manny, but you will forever be Chief Pinheiro to me. I was happy to see your name pop up when the message came through on my phone, and I'm glad you reached out. Life is good, my babies and I are blessed, and I am continuing to do my best each day to make time count. It is great to see the incredible work you've continued since taking the uniform off. And I wish you and your family nothing short of happiness, health, and abundant wealth.

Reflecting on the impact of connections

Manny Pineiro 1:02:58

Take good care. I was like, damn. She knew me in the military. I go back to look at her profile, bro, she was a freaking first sergeant. That I didn't, you know what I mean? And so those things matter. Because if she's doing everything in her wheelhouse now to continue doing something that I shared I don't know how many years ago, you know, to me that's the real impact. A person on vacation, Martin, who sends me a note and says, just like my brother always says, keep making time count. You know, if it's locked in your brain about you looking at your life in a different way, and you're thinking, I'm doing what I'm doing because I'm trying to make my time count. Brother, message and mission complete. Uh, and that to me means more than than anything, man. Than anything. Having a better understanding of the time you have left in this world and and and then utilizing that to be at your best. Ah, bro, there's nothing more powerful than that.

Martin Foster 1:04:04

You know, many God, that's so good.

Manny Pineiro 1:04:06

I'll tell you, man, look, and I and I just I recently just I just got that like a couple days ago, and I was like, man, this is it's powerful for me, man. You know, I spent decades leading at the highest levels, bro. You know, but the real lesson that I realize I've I've come to understand is just not about the rank. It's not about it's about realizing how easy it is to be successful professionally and still miss what matters. That to me is is a is a cause and effect in everything, not just in a military environment, but in a corporate environment. Because I look at it the same way. CEO, commander, right, senior director, you know, uh COO. There's always an an echelon where you get lost within that transition of the conversation. So, you know, we're all dealing with it, man. But man, that that thing about time, bro, that's it's a dangerous concept that if you fail to to realize how important it is in your life. Uh and I and I cannot, I cannot, brother. This is too important for me. Man, I love it.

Martin Foster 1:05:04

Do you have time for more questions? Because I do have this your house. I'm just gonna mention, I know you're a busy guy. I have one more, and hopefully this is the first, this is not the last time like we can do more conversations, right? This is open, you know, hopefully a part one of many more.

Manny Pineiro 1:05:19

You you own the stick, brother. I'm I'm just uh I'm just a passenger on the plane, bro.

unknown 1:05:23

Yeah.

Martin Foster 1:05:24

Uh I do have one last serious question, then I want to jump into some fun white stuff. But you mentioned K Wright in that phone call. So if you could go, and I like I'm I'm very interested and fascinated by the idea of time travel. Yeah, it's just something uh and I love it. I love it. Yeah, and one of my favorite shows of all time is Quantum Leap.

Manny Pineiro 1:05:44

Oh man, back in the days.

Martin Foster 1:05:45

Yeah. And they had a remake that came out that was phenomenal, and it got canceled after two seasons, and I'm still at like five years, and I'm heartbroken still. I absolutely love that the original and the remake. Oh man. But if you could go back in time, let's say the This version of Manny could go back in time and speak to the version uh after right like five minutes after you got off the phone with K Wright about the Diamond One position. What would you tell yourself in that moment?

Manny Pineiro 1:06:14

Oh man, um was I ready and prepared to be that guy, the guy he he needed versus the guy I thought he needed. You know, does that make sense? Yeah. When he sp when he called me, because he called me at home. I was sitting at the island in my kitchen with my wife. We were having a conversation, and when he called me to ask me, he didn't, he wasn't asking, he was more directing. Like, I need this is what I need, this is what I'm looking for. And and then, you know, my full instinct jumped on board because you know what? I I felt threatened that he was trying to take my time back. You know, is that I'm I'm trying to bring you where I'm at, brother. So I started to really renegotiate the deal. Like he was telling me what he, you know, hey, I'd like you to come on the team and be part of this team. And in my brain, I kept saying, I'm done. Like I don't need to be part of any team anymore. I'm this is this is the Manny show. I'm trying to take care of me now. And then I started telling him uh what I wasn't gonna do because I knew the position. Like I knew all my predecessors who had the position, and they didn't have that type of autonomy. I I they were more of an extra body in the in the pulse of the office. And and not no takeaway, right? No disrespect to any of them, but the chief mandates whether or not you will be invested in the in the decisions. And I started saying, I'm not gonna get you coffee, I'm not gonna get you, you know, I'm I'm not gonna be that person to be an additional protocol um for your office. And um, as I was telling him all of these things, he he just stayed quiet. And then that's when he just said, Man, I called you to hire you, you were about to get fired. But he said, Listen, talk to Vanessa, figure out the family dynamics, and then let me know if this is something you want to do. And and he just said, But I just want to leave you with this. I'm not looking at anyone else. And and and that, you know, no pressure, right? But I I literally uh I remember that, man, like it was like it happened a couple of minutes ago. And I I got off the phone and I said, she says, Who was it? Because you know, she probably saw saw that dumbfounded look on my face. And I said, That was Khalid. He's asking me to get on the team. She goes, What are you gonna do? Bro, I'm two months out from retiring. And uh, you know, I had invitations going out. I mean, it was crazy. And then I I said, I gotta, I gotta call some people. And then I started calling some senior folks that I knew that, and I think I called them for validation. Because I I was, you know, as most leaders, we feel confident in the position, but I wasn't confident in in my abilities. I was more, um, I mean, I wasn't, I didn't look at it like I know what I can do. I looked at it like, is this something I need to do? And and because I, again, I had a great career, man. I had nothing else to prove to anyone, but it was, it became a very unselfish act because I knew that I didn't have to take the job, but man, I was surrounded by these giant bookends, right? Yeah. I had Khalith, I had Dave Golfein, I had, I had people who embraced airmanship and embraced the the values of taking care of our people. That to me was like this was a this was a calling, right? This was uh uh man, the opportunity to and then to really unfold how I saw the first sergeant in this triad, right? The role that to me was like, man, I can I can persuade this conversation so that they can see the impact that a first sergeant actually has. If if given the the responsibility and and like it's self-automated, right? Um, but there were so many things that I in my brain I kept thinking, okay, man, I gotta I gotta go back. I look, I'll tell you this. I remember one time, so I'm on the team, uh, we were months in, we're traveling, and I remember every morning we used to go to the gym, right? Um and then waiting for the rest of the team to to assemble, Khalid and I used to throw some hoops, right? We'd be in the in the basketball court just taking shots until everybody came and we were ready to go together. He asked me, he says, Hey man, you know, we only this is literally, we only have so much time to take care of the things that we need to take care of. He goes, What are your priorities? And I said, Man, that's huge. Because the concept of time was in my brain, right? And I said, We got to change how we teach first sergeants. Like, we got to go back to the the root of tutor, like he used to always say, and and get back to the real basics of the world that the first sergeants live in. So that had to be the first pit stop is how are we training? And that was my focus. Let's train these first sergeants, the not my way, but the way that we say they're supposed to be in the field. And um, man, we changed so much, man. I had a lot of good help uh from the cadre that were out there uh to include my you know my commandant at the time um I had hired uh Mike Perry.

Martin Foster 1:11:50

Yeah, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:11:51

So, so you know, having those conversations and just bringing a little realistic view to what type of first sergeant do we need in the field. Um, and then uh and then accrediting that with the commander, right? The commander position, and then bringing in the chief, and then having that same messaging from the headquarters level kind of migrate all the way down to the to the to the field. That was the most important part of what made this opportunity something. So yeah, bro, look, you can hand me the keys to the DeLorean any day. I love I love going back and and trying to figure it out, but man, we did so much goodness for the airmen. At least we tried to do our best with the time that we had um and set a set a great tone. And you know, you know, to Dave Goldfein's accounts, to our 21st chief staff of the Air Force, uh, you know, him and I are still connected, right? On the USL board. But we talk about our time together all the time, you know, like what worked, what didn't work.

Martin Foster 1:12:50

He shares a good story about you. I've heard him talk about so I'm working on him and uh getting on him. So he has agreed to do my podcast. We're just working out dates, right?

Manny Pineiro 1:12:59

You gotta get him on.

Martin Foster 1:13:00

But he talks about I heard him on a podcast talk about when you guys went to Puerto Rico and him and K Wright were basically they took the backseat and just let you do all the mingling and the speaking and stuff.

Manny Pineiro 1:13:10

Yeah, man. That was that was beautiful, man. That was a beautiful moment, you know. But again, a test to leadership, right? I mean, uh, you gotta put things in perspective. This is uh this is the chief of staff.

Martin Foster 1:13:21

I mean, this is the you know, the top military person in the Air Force. I mean, this is you know, uh, this guy is one person away from the the secretary of the defense, right? In terms of no doubt. I mean, yeah, so he's uh he's uh he's the final boss.

Manny Pineiro 1:13:33

And for him to say, you know what, this ain't our this ain't my wheelhouse. Let me let me give it to the guy who who understands the post of what we're trying to communicate out here, that was a turning point in that whole trip because it wasn't about me. It was about what we're trying to establish in communication, right? And and that I just happened to, you know, that was my that was my people, right? Those were my people. So it was it was like the stars aligned right in that moment. And they realized, and and and even him when he tells the story is great because I didn't see it that way. I was just, I was just there. But but the moment that he let go of those reins and said, man, let's put the right people in front of the audience, um, that spoke a lot, right? That that told a big story to the to the not just the community, but to our Air Force. Um, I I'll share this, and I'm I'm sure he'll remember this if you ever ask him. But we were we were talking, uh, you know, I was very adamant about first sergeants and chiefs, right? Like the chief position. Uh, especially if you were a first sergeant who made chief, I always say, well, let's go back to the field, and then you can learn to embrace your chiefs, basically surrounding your chiefs. And then after that, you can, because there was a lot of times prior to my uh taking on the position, was that if you made chief, your senior man sergeant, you made chief, you can easily put in for one of these command first sergeant positions. And I always said, man, but they that's a lot of pressure because they're gonna be speaking on behalf of the commander and that command chief. And so a lot of folks were in that, you know, poised for that. I just wanted them to get back, get amongst the their chiefs and and melt into that pool, understand some of the conference, some of the responsibilities that come in the squadron level, you know, and then how you navigate that before you take on this role. So I remember one time we were talking, we were coming back from a trip, and uh he was asking me about command chiefs and and how I picked my command first sergeants. I said, well, they usually are first sergeants, they were good first sergeants, they went back to the world, and I kind of gave him the the step process for it.

Martin Foster 1:15:36

Yeah, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:15:37

And I said, you know, boss, I gotta tell you, uh, how do you pick your commanders? And I said, because, you know, in my world, and this is a conversation I always had with Khalith, was that not every chief needs to be a command chief. Nope. Right? I mean, that you know, we're being honest about it. It's not that we, you know, I think our selection process could have been a little better. We selected some folks who didn't even be command chiefs, and we we let go of a lot of good opportunities to make folks command chiefs, right? But because of the position, we there was a nurturing in the in the book frame of of chiefs that thought that every chief needed to be a command chief to feel successful. I asked him about his commanders, and I said, not every com not every officer needs to be a commander.

Martin Foster 1:16:20

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:16:21

And and I look, man, that this is how powerful our conversations were. We were going back to DC and he was hosting the Wing Commanders Conference. And here he is on the stage telling all of these officers, all these commanders, not every officer needs to be a commander. Wow. I was like, you know, I'm in the back. I'm like, what? I'd be laughing so hard. That'll tell you, man, that he listened to his people. What made him great and why he is such an enamored uh, you know, officer chief um in our Air Force history is that he actually listened to his people. Uh I was blessed to have him as the boss. Um, I was blessed, I, you know, Secretary Barrett is on the USO board, so I see her all the time as well. And we talk about our the moments that we had, you know. I I had her, I had Wilson. We we talk about this identity that wasn't ours. You know what I mean? We were we happen to be in those positions to help push the message to our folks in the field to understand their capability and and put put the put the responsibility back in their laps. You know, the if anything, General Goldfin was the first to say, I don't make decisions for you. You're the commander. Like, make the decision. And and and that was like a a moment of self-reflection to say, hey, you're you're in this position for a reason. Make the decision. And if it's the right decision, I got you. Like, don't worry about it. And that's that's what leadership is really about, man. Make the decision. If it's the wrong, you know, you'll be all right. No one's taking your birthday. But but if you make the decision and you're not and it's consistent to how you are as a leader, then your money. Because that's what it's about, man. So it's really, I think that we lose a little bit of that when we we try to emulate other people, right? You know, because this thread conversation isn't just about leadership, man. You know, this stewardship of time, people, relationships. You know, we really have to embrace all those things that that true leaders look at. Um, when I talk to senior directors, it's the same way, man. Look, are you taking care of your people? Because if you're taking care of your people, guess what they're gonna do? They're gonna take care of this game you want.

Martin Foster 1:18:42

Exactly.

Manny Pineiro 1:18:43

So nothing has changed in that, in those, in that when you embrace that, but time, people, and relationships, man, that's the fabric of what makes what makes our moments uh and and why leaders excel. If they have those three concepts, you know, am I wasting time? Am I not, you know, doing my best for my people? And am I building this network of of leadership uh within the relationship, the scope of relationships? Yeah, man. Yeah, bro. I'll tell you, look, man, I apologize. Long ass question, long-ass answer for sure questions.

Martin Foster 1:19:14

No, this is good. This I'm letting you cook, right? It's just kind of like, hey, like, you know, paint a Picasso, right?

Manny Pineiro 1:19:21

So it's just Yeah, I'm actually bringing up you bring up a lot of good points that actually have a lot to do with why I am where I'm at in my life, you know?

Martin Foster 1:19:29

No, and like I've been a guest on podcasts where it was an hour episode, and the host talked for 50. No, this is not like I timed it, like they talked for 58 minutes. They were the host, like they asked me to be a guest, and I'm like, you know, they would ask me a question, and then they would go, they would go into they would answer their own question. And I'm like, oh my god, like I'm just it's it was so weird. I'm like, just do a solo episode, man. That was crazy. No, but this is what I like to do, man. And I feel I take pride. I mean, I've like I've mentioned a couple times now. I mean, I pour so much into this, and yeah, I was an Intel analyst by trade, and Joe Bass was on my podcast, and then she likes to say, Martin, you guys are God's children or whatever, special children. Because until like the questions I was asking her was asked her a question that said, Hey, we've all seen the clop out when people leave the Pentagon, right? All the uh

Reflecting on personal motivations

Martin Foster 1:20:16

all the service leads and the generals, all that stuff, right? They always everyone's lined in the hallways clopping out. And I said, if I would have met you at the end of the bottom, like you walked out of those steps, the bottom of them, you're walking out, and if I would have came up to you in that moment uh and asked you uh right then and there, what are you running from and what are you running toward, like what would your answer be? And she was like, Where do you come up with this stuff? And I'm like, it's just it's I love it. I mean, I this is I want to hear this stuff from people.

Manny Pineiro 1:20:42

I love it.

Martin Foster 1:20:43

Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, yeah. Uh, just before we wrap up, so some light, miscellaneous questions. There's no rhyme or reason. One thing I like to do is I call it the name game. So I'm just gonna say a few names, just provide uh one word or like a short sentence about like what comes to mind when you hear these names. And these are all I think good names. So uh, but the first one is Chief Master Sergeant Luis Rivera.

Manny Pineiro 1:21:08

Luis Rivera. I know that name.

Martin Foster 1:21:10

I heard that name. Was he a recruiter or something? Anyway, I might move on from that one. Uh because I've I've listened, I've listened to you if uh you've been on a podcast, I've listened to you tell stories, even going back to uh, you know, you did the blueprint with K-Wright. And I mean, even if you did a podcast period, I mean I've Oh bro, you're talking about my recruiter. Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:21:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the name? His name was uh Rivera. Uh okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're smart. I was like, damn, I know that name. Yeah, bro. That's the guy. And I hope he's still with us. I lost touch with him. He was in San Antonio. I I actually tried to invite him to my retirement ceremony, but he never answered it.

Martin Foster 1:21:49

So yeah. Well, shout out to him. So or his fancy.

Manny Pineiro 1:21:54

Yeah, that's the guy who he's in that's my life blood, man. I I another reason I I wanted to be a recruiter is that he I felt like he saved my life, man.

Martin Foster 1:22:03

That's awesome.

Manny Pineiro 1:22:03

Yeah. That guy took me out of the jungle, bro. And and and what was so cool, and this is something I advocate for with recruiters, um, I was fortunate. I I spoke at a the recruiting group. Uh they had uh their annual awards, and I went out and was a guest speaker, a keynote speaker, and uh, which I loved, but I told the story about how you don't even realize the impact that you have on someone's life. And this recruiter literally changed my life. I mean, I went there um with no options but to get out of New York. And and this guy happened to be from New York, happened to be from my, you know, they like, you know, when you're selected to be a recruiter, you get an opportunity to recruit wherever you're from. But yeah, but you know, most of the time, those recruiters just want to be home, right? But this guy really believed in what he was doing. And uh, and you know, he was a tech sergeant. And here I am years later, I'm I find myself in Lackland. Uh, if you don't know the story, but yeah, man, I'm having uh, I'm in the NCO Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, the Gaylor uh uh NCO Academy. It wasn't even the Gaylor Academy at the time. I don't I don't believe it was yet. But he um uh I this recruiter that was in my class, he says, Hey man, you got recruited in New York. And he goes, You remember your recruiter's name? And and that conversation came up, and I say, Oh my god, bro, this guy. So I started telling you guys, yo, you know what, my my chief is a Rivera. And I he goes, and I said, bro, you know how many Rivera's come out of New York? And he said, Nah, man, I I think this is the guy, man. So at one of the breaks, uh, the group, the recruiting group was right there on Lackland, and we went up to the office, and bro, I've run into my recruiter. I actually sat right across from my recruiter at my NCO Academy graduation.

unknown 1:23:51

Wow.

Martin Foster 1:23:52

You've so I've heard you tell the story. That's where I got the uh the name from.

Manny Pineiro 1:23:55

So I've heard you and you know what was crazy? I was able to see, I went to his retirement and I told this story. I had there was nothing but tears in that room. And it was so emotional because man, this guy truthfully changed my life. Like the course of my life was because of this person who invested in me. And I didn't see him, you know, you don't see a recruiter, right? You got nothing but negative stories about recruiters, right? But I wanted to say thank you, and no better way than to, bro, I was I was doing that job at the time. So, so that'll tell you that I was like now in a whole different pulse in my career, and he saw that, and and to sit across from him at my graduation was like, wow, wow. You know, that's yeah, man. Moments like that, you just don't forget, bro. You don't forget.

Martin Foster 1:24:45

That's no, that's a great story, and I that's where I took note of that one.

Manny Pineiro 1:24:49

Thank you for bringing that up, bro. I feel like I heard the name and I was like, damn.

Martin Foster 1:24:53

The second name, certainly not least, Kathy Torres Pomo.

Manny Pineiro 1:24:58

Oh man, money. She is uh she's the truth, bro. You know, another New Yorker.

Martin Foster 1:25:03

Shout out to Elmhurst Queens.

Manny Pineiro 1:25:05

Queensbound. Uh yeah, man. She and I had a great conversation, man. It's it's I give her mad props because I leverage where she's from. And how many people probably told her the same thing they told me? You can't. You know, this is not for you. And then you ask yourself, and she's a Latina, she's uh she's uh, you know, like her embodiment. People always think that New York is all hardcore and pushy. And man, man, but when you embrace what you want to do and you love what you do, it it comes across. Um and look at, you know, I look at her now and I think about, you know, and our conversation was really uh uh do you know someone that knows someone that because I gotta connect from someone else. You know, I are you familiar with Keith Castile?

Martin Foster 1:25:53

Yeah, yeah, KC, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:25:55

KC reached out to me and said, hey man, I'm I'm working with these this team. Um they call uh it's part of the Mick and they do some other stuff. And but I your name came up in the conversation, and I was wanting to know if you would be you would be willing to connect with with Kathy. So it was like really, you know, a real connection that led to another connection that led to boom, here we are in a conversation. And man, we we're I mean, literally on speed. She just reached out to me. She gave me those, she gave me one of those manny exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. Yeah. But man, she's great. She's just the truth, man. And I and I appreciate what she brings to the table, what she's doing to influence uh military spouses. She's uh she's trying to actually get me to be to be at an event. I told her September is gonna be crunchy. I think they're having an event in Tampa.

Martin Foster 1:26:45

Yeah, so I'll be there at that one.

Manny Pineiro 1:26:47

I told her, I said I'll do my best to because I know I know my you know my calendar is pretty crazy, but uh she also extended an invitation in July because she's trying to do an event for some spouses. Um but man, you know, I mean it's like that, right? Once you get a connection to a certain pulse of the give back, it's for me, that's all that's you know, that's part of this, man. This is I I I'm a for-profit entity, but at the end of the day, if there's an opportunity to do something that's gonna give back to the community, you know, just give me a holla. I'm there, you know.

Martin Foster 1:27:18

Yeah, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Kathy. She's been mentoring me for the past year and a half. Not a lot of people know that. Uh they just have no, you know, and that was just a chance encounter that her and I had. I had no idea who she was. I was just genuinely nice to, you know, who I thought was a stranger. And I was uh it was actually at the military conference two years ago. She was I was watching one of the events happen, and I she was standing there, just I thought it was just another just another person just like me, just attending. I said, Man, whoever put this event together just did an outstanding job. I'm so I'm just blown away. It's my first time here. And she was like, Oh, you know, and then we talked briefly, and then a couple months later, they did an event here in Dayton at the Air Force Museum, and you know, her uh Kurt Taz, the other guy. Right, and him I know, right? So I went and helped up. I was setting up chairs and doing organs, you know, trying to, you know, tear down chairs, set up the event. I wanted to help them, and he was like, Hey, I want to introduce you to my boss, and it's Kathy. And I'm like, like, oh my God.

Manny Pineiro 1:28:14

Like, yeah, yeah. I'm I'm extremely proud of her, man. She is uh, you know, single mom. You know, she's just she's killing the game, man. She's killing the game.

Martin Foster 1:28:21

She was on my podcast uh a couple months ago. So that's great. That's great. Yeah, she doesn't do a lot of stuff. As a matter of fact, that might have been the first podcast she's done. So I was just honored that that's even better.

Manny Pineiro 1:28:30

Yeah. And you got that type of entity and you got that, that that's a great uh spirit, man. Possible positive spirit.

Martin Foster 1:28:36

Yeah, big fan. Uh last name is uh on the list for this this part is not really a name of a person, but just more of uh an area. But which you being from the Bronx, which borough of the five boroughs do uh people from the Bron Bronx secretly refuse to admit is fun?

Manny Pineiro 1:28:53

Uh from the people from the Bronx. Um fun. I would probably be like, I, you know, it's hard because there you you can find yourself um exploiting every borough and their secrets. You know, like like there's a lot. Long Island has a lot of history. Uh Queens, of course, has a lot of I'm still connected to Queens. My my family most of my family lives up there now. But I don't know, man. There's a lot there's it so from a New Yorker, I will tell you, everything about that city brings something different to anyone who travels there more than once. Because you're never gonna get to see everything. You know, you can jump on a hop on, hop off, and think that you're gonna cover so much, but the hit there's so much, there's this history that I don't even realize that's going on. Look, I just recently found out that there was a uh there was an area in on 59th Street, I want to say in where where the Lincoln Center sits now, there used to be a thriving community of African Americans and Latinos. I had no clue about it. It was called San Juan Hill. And that's the community, just they demolished it to build Lincoln Center. So you, I'm always learning something new about, you know, walking around the city and realizing that there's so much to it. I'm I'll be back there next month uh for a couple of things. Uh one, my mom is having some surgeries, cataracts, so I'm gonna stop by and check on her and make sure she's good. But then I'm coming back a couple of weeks after that and I'm gonna celebrate, you know, Puerto Rican Day Parade, man. Just go out there and roll out with the madness of the city and and you know, celebrate our island and the people and the beauty and the it's just uh you get so much, you you know, you can only get so much in New York, by the way, if you're there, right? Um there's only you know, it's like going to Altis. You can only get so many rattlesnake derbies, you know.

Martin Foster 1:30:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The festivals, rattlesnake, yeah, I remember that.

Manny Pineiro 1:31:00

So so those things are those things that are happening for the moments that they're happening, but there's always something going down in the city. So there is, man.

Martin Foster 1:31:09

The rattles you're bringing up memories of rattlesnake, yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:31:13

I was out there, I'm telling you, that was like, no way. People eat this, and then you know, it the following year. I was eating it too. I was yeah, did you ever go to Mears?

Martin Foster 1:31:22

Uh in E E. Yeah, have the the big like Mears bird. That's always like that.

Manny Pineiro 1:31:26

Yeah, man.

Martin Foster 1:31:26

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:31:26

So you know, I try to I try to get invested uh into the community and just try to figure out what was going on. You know, I I I enjoyed the base. Uh my wife and I always talk about trying to go back just to see the little house we lived at on Walnut. Uh, you know, it was just right across from Jackson County, you know. I mean I tell you, man, it was a trip, bro. But I but it again, it it opened the doors for what uh military community is about, you know.

Martin Foster 1:31:54

Uh last couple questions. Uh listened to your episode with Kay Wright uh when he was SimSAV and you had a great conversation. You guys were talking about uh one of the best parts of the episode was I think it was the bath and body work story. So so hear me out on this one, Manny. Smelling good, smelling good is important, right? We want to smell good. I want to smell good. I'm wearing I I put on a cologne just for this episode. I'm serious. I put for this episode. You can't smell me. I smell good though. Just know that.

Manny Pineiro 1:32:21

I love it.

Martin Foster 1:32:22

But smelling good is important. If you and K-Wright, if you and K Wright developed and released your own signature scent, what would it be called?

Manny Pineiro 1:32:31

Oh, bro. Uh it would definitely have a smoky tobacco flavor because he's a hardcore cigar head. Uh, and we definitely did our share of bourbon and and and uh uh you know, you name you named uh whiskey. We we covered a lot of that, but it would have to be probably uh I don't know, man. I I'll put it this way. It wouldn't be just around centered around him and I, I'd probably say dream. I like that, dream. Dream.

Martin Foster 1:33:11

You want me to ask ChatGPT? Well, yeah, that'd be cool.

Manny Pineiro 1:33:14

If you got it up. Yeah, I and I would say because I think for both of us, coming from where we came from, even the backgrounds that we had growing up in the military, uh, I don't think we both we ever thought we would be in the positions that we were in. And we talked about that a lot, you know. You only get that one, it's like it's like Hamilton, right? You only get one shot.

Martin Foster 1:33:35

Yeah.

Manny Pineiro 1:33:35

And so we had an opportunity.

Martin Foster 1:33:37

Nice reference.

Manny Pineiro 1:33:38

We had we only had that one opportunity to to make the moment that we had. And uh and and and the team that we had really wasn't us. You know, I mean, I think about that. The dream team that we had was team 18 and uh and team 21, who who by far, you know, we we supported each other so much.

Martin Foster 1:33:56

But our I have some names. I have some names, sorry. I put name and signature scent if Manny Pinheiro, Pinheiro and Khalith Wright uh developed and it came up with a title and a profile for it, and then um uh some other taglines for it. Uh okay, they call it Afterburn. Afterburn,

The fragrance's bold scent profile

Martin Foster 1:34:16

a signature scent inspired by the uh presence, precision, and charisma that both Manny Pinero and Khalith O'Bright bring to a room. Wow. The notes of it, the fragrance profile, it's uh bergamot, black pepper, and smoked citrus with middle notes of leather, cedar wood, aviation fuel accord, dark lavender, and then base notes of tobacco leaf, amber, um, and sandalwood.

Speaker 2 1:34:40

I love it.

Martin Foster 1:34:41

And then um, what else do we have? That is good. Ooh, uh the vibe, and the uh the it would say clean uh that's another name, the clean enough for a leadership uh summit, bold enough for a fighter squadron bar story. Um the background for the vibe is the profile is confidence without trying, confidence without trying too hard, command presence, whiskey conversations after a long mission and a mix of modern executive and old school warfighter. Uh and the the quick tagline uh was lead from the front.

unknown 1:35:15

Wow.

Manny Pineiro 1:35:16

Wow. Yeah, bro, we're blessed. You know, I and I'll share, I don't know if I've ever said this, or I've had to share the story, and so you may be getting it first. One of the one of the best examples I have of Khalith, um, we were both, we were visiting a base. I wish I could remember it was in Florida. And after the after the day, I mean it was a hustle day, right? We start early, we end late. And I remember we we find, we always found a local cigar lounge, just to kind of go through the moments of the day, the takeaways, you know. So it's funny that all of that is coming up. Um, ChatGPT, you gotta love it, man. But while we walked in to this lounge, apparently was a very popular lounge, and there were no seats available. And so two guys in the back row saw us walk in and saw us kind of looking around. And one of them came up to Khaliz and said, Hey Chief, hey Chiefs, um, you could take our seats. And I was like, No, we both were like, nah, that's all right, man. Thank you so much, you know. Uh, we appreciate it. He says, No, no, no, no, please. So we sat, we're walking towards him, we're walking back with him to get his stuff off the table and to meet his uh his his partner. And he says, Man, thank you so much for what you do. And so he's, you know, basically giving us a compliment. And we were like, man, thank you. Thank you for what you do. So we start talking, we sit down, they're standing next to us, and at one point, Khaliz turns to me and he says, uh, hey, give me, give me uh a couple of little sticks that you just bought, you know? So I was like, oh, here, man, so here you go. And I gave them to him. Now, I want I didn't lay the foundation for that. I had already walked in prior and saw a couple of cigars that I hadn't seen that I said, man, this would be, these are, these are classics right here. I'll smoke these in a different time. Put them in my bag, in my box, and uh, while we were sitting there, he said, Hey, you got those sticks that you just got? And I said, Oh yeah. So I gave them to him, and then he turns around and hands it to these guys. So I was like, yo, you know, like I didn't have a moment there, but I I was a little taken with that. So they left. I said, Hey man, I gotta ask you something. Um, what was that about? And he goes, What? I goes, you asked me for two cigars, I gave them to you, and you gave them away.

Learning a lesson in gratitude

Manny Pineiro 1:37:36

He goes, They were mine, you gave them to me. Bro, you know the lesson that I learned that day? Just in that, just in that that zone, is that man, one, you don't get too attached to anything. And two, man, always be at your best by providing grace with an opportunity to say thank you. And and I I that was such a oh man moment for me. Because as soon as he said you gave them to me, I realized anybody can do anything with anything that's given to them. Wow, another notch on the Khalid is a this was a good decision move, you know, because he understood the gambit of people and how to always stay grateful for what you do, you know. So yeah, man, that was uh I love that. The the you don't have to send that to me on the sidebar, bro.

Martin Foster 1:38:25

Yeah, I'll uh I'll uh I'll copy and pick it. Yeah, I'll send it to you on LinkedIn.

Manny Pineiro 1:38:29

We know we talked about uh opening up a cigar lounge when we were in, and then then it just never came to fruition, you know.

Martin Foster 1:38:37

But you should actually they came up with some other names. I'll send you uh one of the other names was uh runway 27. I don't know why it came up, why it said 27. Interesting. But you know, it's just kind of has sounds like a cool thing.

Manny Pineiro 1:38:48

That's that's that's tight. Yeah, man. But but great add-on story to the to the to the flow of uh my time with Mr. Khalith Wright.

Martin Foster 1:38:56

Yeah, no, that's great, man. Thank you so much for that. One question I like to end every podcast with is if there was a giant billboard with with your picture on it for the world to see, what would you want your leader? I don't even fuck, I never get the answer, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. What would you want your leadership message to say? And where would you want the billboard to be located?

Manny Pineiro 1:39:15

Oh, wow, bro. Um, Altus.

Martin Foster 1:39:18

Hey, that's that's what no one ever says that. I get Times Square a lot, but no one ever says uh Altus.

Manny Pineiro 1:39:26

Um what would it want it to say? Um, bro, I don't need it to say anything. Does it have to have my picture on it?

Martin Foster 1:39:32

Or your signature cologne with UK right now?

Manny Pineiro 1:39:36

Well, I'll definitely say that it would have to have some type of lineage to making time count, uh, and and and probably uh use it as a pivot, right? To to to to remind folks about um you know transition period. What are you doing to make time count? Where I would want it to be, oh, this is good. Because I just had this conversation and a good friend of mine just published it in a book. Um probably at probably at the uh Arlington Cemetery. And you know why? I the conversation I had was with a great friend of mine, uh CEO of uh used to work for Go West, and now he has his own mission out there called Created by David Fachette. But David just wrote a book called Um Hello Find Friends. And it's a great book on stories that he uh acquired and thought about. But I happened to be visiting him uh last year uh in Nashville, and uh we were on a walk, one of his walks, and he likes to do these walk and talk podcasts kind of mentality. And so he asked me, hey man, how does it feel to be popular? Like out of the blue. He knows my history, he knows my background. He's been with me when people say, Oh my god, it's Chico, you know. So he asked that question, I said, bro, you know who the most popular person is? I said, the guy at the funeral. I said, and why that became such an important topic is because, and maybe why I went towards Arlington is because we spend so much time in life not realizing uh the importance of the guy who actually is no longer with us. I mean, think about this for a minute, Martin. When you hear that somebody died and they were close to you, or someone that you knew, maybe we're gonna travel. We're gonna travel distant lands, we're gonna do our best to be there, to look good, to present. And while you're at the funeral, you actually are telling stories about this individual and going through all the lineage of his life. So all the good, right? This person did this for me. Oh my God, this was the best part of this person. But man, but think about how many times we pass by each other every day and we don't even share those flowers with the people that are still here with us. So, so I I shifted the conversation to say that's the most popular guy in

Appreciating people in our lives

Manny Pineiro 1:42:08

the world. Because if you we took the same action that we did for that person uh that was now no longer part of our lives, um, but we were able to filter that to the people that are in our lives, then that's that's the real moment, right? It's almost a learning uh seesaw, because we are so concentrated on the person that's no longer with us, but we are surrounded by people that are with us. But we don't tell them, we don't give the praise the way we would to the person who's no longer with us. So if I had the opportunity to have a billboard and a message, I would make sure to amp up make time count. Like those people in Arlington, they all they all did it. They all lived a life worthy, they all lived a honorable um, you know, moment in their lives where their their lives mattered. And and now we pay homage to them there all the time. But a reminder to damn, how am I gonna make my time count? Because they're there, right? We're visiting them, but how are we making our own time count? You know, so I mean, that's a powerful question, bro. Real powerful question.

Martin Foster 1:43:20

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, Manny, I want to end on that because that's a perfect note. Uh, what can I do for you? How can I best serve you? How can I best serve the USO and make time count?

Manny Pineiro 1:43:31

You're doing it, brother. You're doing it. You have a platform, you're leveraging real talk with conversations that matter to people uh that probably feel empty on many occasions. Um, I would say you're supporting me just by humbling me with the opportunity to be on the show. Uh I and I and I love it, man, because uh I should be asking you, what can I do for you? Uh how can I continue to pass the torch?

Martin Foster 1:43:55

That's a good man, that's a good question, man.

Manny Pineiro 1:43:57

Because that's that's our role, man. Look, as leaders, what is the real identity of leadership? Is how do we make it better for the next person so they can leave it better for the next person. Um we need to continue it. But I was so taken with the with the with the symbol to your show, uh, because it speaks truth to power, man. It's the people who who hinder and hog and want to own their space that think that they are leading. And no, man, if if the airman cannot communicate the message that you're trying to communicate to the masses, and I mean from a military perspective, right? This is in a in a corporate environment, the same thing. If I can't communicate the message of the CEO and his mission and vision down to the person in the operation who's grinding every day, then I've failed a huge communication gap. And that to me is uh entity of passing the torch, right? Because that person that's down at the bottom of the pool that's grinding every day, uh, is just trying to get to the part where where they matter and they feel like they're valued. A good leader in any position is gonna make his people feel valued every day. And that is the real essence of leadership, man. Um, you know, I I am uh I'm a fan of it, and I, you know, I don't try to drown people out with it. I just want you to really dig deep inside your your soul and think about how are you leading, because that's time you're not gonna get back. You know, so I'd rather you invest into the people now, humanize yourself to understand that they all have something going on, and then realize, you know what? I'm gonna make sure that they enjoy coming to work and giving 100%, you know? Yeah, bro.

Martin Foster 1:45:42

Manny, thank you. This has been an absolute honor for me. I have you were someone I've wanted on my podcast for a long time. Uh bro. And uh I'm just humbled that you you joined me and just uh you made time count for me with me. No doubt. Uh just thank you for everything.

Manny Pineiro 1:45:58

Uh bro, right back at you, man. Look, continued success. Uh I'm here. You know, you you have me on speed dial, brother. So just reach out for whatever. Um, I I am I'm here. Uh, but I wish you nothing but but continued success, man. Blessings to you and your family. Uh make sure you understand your daughter is watching.

Martin Foster 1:46:17

Yeah, that's yeah, that stuck with me for sure.

Manny Pineiro 1:46:19

I love that you bring her on the show, bro. I love it. Um

Acknowledging spousal support

Manny Pineiro 1:46:22

but my best to you, please uh share the opportunity uh with your with your spouse as well, with your wife, and let her know that I said thank you for supporting you through all these years. Uh even now. Even now. Because right, you know, you you you humbled me with the opportunity to say thank you for making time count. But brother, she's giving you an opportunity to do what you love. And in that support element, bro, that's time that you're not gonna get back. But now you got an opportunity to say thank you. So please push on a big thank you from me as well.

Martin Foster 1:46:51

Absolutely.